Evan F. Moore: The hypocrisy in Minnesota’s latest police shooting

The most recent police-involved shooting has an interesting twist that shows the hypocrisy of how black lives seem not to matter as much as white ones.

Mohamed Noor, a Somali-born Minneapolis police officer, shot and killed Justine Damond, an Australian-born white woman, who called to report an assault on July 15. Like some police shootings that have been brought to our attention in recent years, the officers’ body cameras were off during the incident.

Support for Noor from pro-police and conservative press and bloggers has been muted, or one-sided thus far.

John Cardillo, a former police officer and conservative radio talk show host, tweeted: “#JustineDamond was a bad shoot. This cop never should have been on the job. Diversity hires have no place in LE” (law enforcement).

At this point, the “All Live Matter /Blue Lives Matter/Police Lives Matter” crowd is showing where they stand.

After all, if this were a white officer who killed a black person, they would be telling anyone who raises a stink to worry about the amount of problems in America’s black communities. Also, when black people are shot by the police, a specific and targeted riot act plays out in pro-police and conservative media that says:

“Why can’t they just listen to the police?”

“Where are their parents?”

And my favorite: “Wait until all of the facts come out.”

Next, inferences are made based off social media posts, the music they listen to and records of traffic tickets from long ago, and all are used to build a case on why the particular person got what they deserved. In many cases, when white people are the victims of police violence, the goalposts are moved.

Also, police officers of color, especially black cops, have stories of being treated differently than their white colleagues. They often believe that they do not get the same level of support.

“I’ll say this: As a black officer I’ve had to work twice as hard to get half the recognition or benefits that my white colleagues have gotten,” a black police officer whom I quoted anonymously story for the Chicago Reader in January 2016. “It varies from department to department but generally this is a predominantly white profession, and I knew the score going in.”

In many cases, blue lives trump black ones.

Even though the investigation is ongoing, Damond has gotten the benefit of the doubt that countless black people who’ve been shot by the police don’t get in death.

When Tamir Rice, 12, was shot by a Cleveland police officer as he held a toy gun — before we knew anything about the background of the officer who killed him — the press posted stories on the criminal background of Tamir’s parents. When that happens, it steers public opinion to think that the victim’s background had something to do with the way he was killed.

A life was lost, and the officer who shot this woman isn’t getting the backing white officers get when victims become a hashtag.

I wonder why that is? — Evan F. Moore is a syndicated columnist with GateHouse Media. He writes about the intersection of race, violence and culture. His work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Chicago Tribune and Ebony. Follow him on Twitter @evanfmoore.